Please don't be Katniss
by DancingThroughLife1999
Summary: Little sister. Duck. Blonde-haired seam-inhabinant. Primrose Everdeen. The one who started it all. With just a name. Follow her story through the first book, and see why she loves Katniss so much. *GAMES UP*
1. Chapter 1

******THe Hunger Games In Prim's Point of View******

I looked around self-conciously as I awake from another one of my reacurring nightmares.

Father was there, which was strange, because he died, but he was with Mother and Katniss. They were all smiling, but something was wrong, their smiles were forced.

And then I saw it, behind them on the TV, was an image of me. Being brutally killed by a girl with a knife. I had awoken as soon as the hovercraft had appeared. I didn't need signs, or words to figure out what that place was.

It was the Hunger Games. And I was a tribute.

I shuddered, and slipped out of the bed I shared with my sister, and into my mother's.

I tried to sleep again, but it was no use, everytime I closed my eyes, I saw those horrid images. Finally I just stroked Buttercup's fur, and stared into space.

A few hours -or was it minutes?- later, Katniss got up. I watched as she got ready for her hunting trip. Last night, I had put some goat cheese on the table, and hopefully she would find that, and share it with Gale.

Gale is her friend. I have this dream that they'll get married some day, and then I'll marry Rory. I secretly like him.

He's not like the other boys in my grade. He's...different. Softer, maybe.

I hope we'll get married, and have kids, who'll never get reaped, and then I'll open an apothecary shop, and we'll live happily ever after. That's what happened to my Mother's parents.

Speaking of Mother, she is stirring, I should wake her.

"Mother, It's time to wake up. Mother, today is the reaping. We must get ready." I say softly. I wouldn't want to disturb her.

"Hmmm, of course Prim. Has Katniss left yet?" She answers her own question by looking over at her bed. Seeing it empty, she rolls out of bed, her worn-down hands reaching out to embrace me.

I go into them without hesitation. I am always delighted when she wants to hug me. It makes me feel worth something.

I think Katniss is worth more than I, after all, she can provide food, is older, and is the prettiest person I've ever seen. She doesn't think she's pretty. If only she could see that she is pretty.

I shrug my shoulders, and walk into the bathroom where Father's shaving mirror sits, mocking me with it's layer of coal that settles over everything in the district. I pick up the rag, which is from my old clothes I replace every two months, and wipe away the hurtful black dust.

"Prim, what do we have that is avaliable for breakfast?" I blink, and walk over to the cupboard, and look inside. There's some tessarae-made bread, and a few greens.

I tell Mother what I found, and she cuts us both a big piece, and divides the greens into two, since we both know that she probably got something to eat with Gale.

Once we've finished eating, Mother gets out Katniss' very first reaping outfit, and holds it up to me saying, "It might be a bit big, but it'll do once I put some pins on it," and goes to work combing my hair and washing all the grime off my body.

Once finished, I try on the blouse, and skirt. Katniss looked so pretty in this dress. I hope I'll look at least half as pretty.

I feel my lower lip tremble, and tears threaten to fall as soon as I remember my dream from last night. I take a deep breath, and will myself to be strong for Katniss, and Mother.

I hear our front door slam and I feel my face flush in delight. Katniss was back!

I look at Mother, who just finished filling a tub with warm water. Then she lays out one of her old outfits from her apothecary days. It's blue, and it has the prettiest shoes to match.

When Katniss comes into view, she looks surprised, "are you sure?" She ask Mother. There's more than surprising in her face, something else too. Maybe...happiness. Mother is very wary of her clothes from her past. This itself was rather surprising, but it makes sense, she would look so pretty in that dress.

Mother walks over to her, and says, "Of course. Let's put your hair up too. Mother dries it and then braids it in a complicated pattern. Usually Katniss looks pretty, but this, she looks stunning. Mother walks into our small kitchen and starts cooking.

"You look beautiful," I say in a hushed voice.

"And nothing like myself," She responds, and then hugs me. She pulls back and gives me a once-over.

"Tuck your tail in little duck, " she says as she smooths down my blouse.

I giggle, I really like ducks, more like animals in general. All living beings really. I could never hate anyone. That's just mean. "Quack."

"Quack yourself," Katniss says, along with a light laugh, which is very rare for her. "Come on, let's eat." Then she kisses me on the top of my head. My face glows in pleasure. A hug, a laugh and a kiss. Katniss must be in a good mood today.

All the yummy food Katniss brought home with her is going to be saved for dinner, so we eat the rest of rough tessarae bread, and the fresh milk from Lady, my goat.

At one o'clock, my dream is about to become reality as we arrive at the square, even thought the square is big and our population is small, not everyone fits into it.

I could feel butterflies in my stomach, but I tried to remain calm, and I walked over to where the other twelve-year olds are. I say hi to Rory, and we start talking about school.

We look to the stage, and see that our mentor is missing, Haymitch Abernathy, but Mayor Undersee, and our escort, Effie Trinket are present, and whispering to each other worriedly.

Mayor Undersee starts talking, and the crowd quiets down, but I'm not listening, I'm staring at Katniss, trying not to cry. What if my sister gets picked as a tribute? She has even more slips in the reaping ball than me.

Haymitch finally arrives, and makes a fool out of himself. He is always drunk. I'll never touch alcohol. It's awful for your health.

All the sudden, Effie Trinket's ever bubbly voice catches my attention, "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be _ever_ in your favor!"

As she walks towards the glass ball filled with girls' names, the butterflies multiply. She says, "Ladies first!"

Everyone's silent. I whisper very quietly, "Please don't be Katniss, please don't be Katniss." Repeating it, and then the name's called. And it's not Katniss.

It's Primrose Everdeen.


	2. Chapter 2

******THe Hunger Games In Prim's Point of View******

I look around, seeing Katniss, Gale, Rory, Mother. Katniss looks like all the air has left her body. Gale looks grim, and pitiful. Rory and Mother look like they're trying not to cry.

Everyone start murmuring like they do when a twelve-year-old, sad about the picking, and angry at the Capitol for making innocence go to that nightmare place.

All the sudden, it kicks in. I'm going to that nightmare place. Me. Primrose Everdeen. I feel the blood in my face drain, and I start making the long walk up to the stage, taking small stiff steps, my fists getting tighter with each step. I force them to my side, when I see that I'll be passing Katniss soon.

I need to be strong. For her. For Rory. For Mother. I feel a slight breeze of my back, and realize that my blouse has come undone.

That's when I see it. The look on Katniss' face. Realization. She realizes that she can save me. I open my mouth to protest, but she's already coming.

"Prim!" It's barely recongizable, so she tries again, "Prim!" This time she's clear. All the sudden I'm behind her. She swept me aside.

"I volunteer!" Katniss gasps. "I volunteer as a tribute!" What? No! She can't do this! Everyone's confused.

Volunteering is really complicated, but in District Twelve, no one volunteers, after all, the weakest, poorest district doesn't need help killing off people. They do a fine job of that themselves. What with starvation, and all.

"Lovely!" says Effie Trinket.

I would like to scream at this woman that this is not in fact 'lovely.' But I don't. Because that would be mean, and I hate hurting anything.

"But I believe there's a small matter of introducing the reaping winner and then asking for volunteers and if one does come forth then we, um..." she trails off, unsure of herself.

I start crying, I hear someone else crying too, I'm sure it's Mother. Mother! She was so sick when Father left. What will happen if Katniss leaves too? Oh no...

The mayor chooses this moment to step in, "What does it matter?"

As he says this, he's staring at Katniss, with a ghost of recognition, oh, right. Katniss sells him strawberries, and is friends with his daughter, Madge. Madge is nice. She sits with Katniss at lunch. I think they're friends.

"What does it matter?" He repeats gruffly. "Let her come forward."

I scream, I can't let Katniss go, no! I wrap my arms around her as tighly as I can. But it's not enough. Words are my last chance, "No, Katniss! No! You can't go!" Because she can't. I can't live without her. Mentally and physically.

"Prim, let go." Something in her voice tells me to listen, but I can't. I just can't let go of my sister. She's MY sister. I need her. "Let go!"

I feel strong arms pull me apart from Katniss. Gale! He'll talk some sense into Katniss, tell her not to go. I'm flooded with relief. But, he's not talking to Katniss, or letting me go. I can't feel the ground, and start panicking. I thrash around, and then look up to see Katniss' pretty face with a pained expression on it.

Then, Gale the Traitor says, "Up you go catnip." Catnip? Oh yeah, Katniss told me that story.

All the sudden, I'm moving. The gound is changing. I feel Gale put me down, and someone else's arms around me, and something wet on my shoulder. Mother. I start sobbing, and embrace her back.

There we hear the rest of the reaping, but I'm just so sad, that when Effie Trinket says, "Well, bravo! That's the spirit of the games!" I start crying even harder. "What's your name?"

I look up. Katniss swallows, and says, "Katniss Everdeen."

Effie smiles in response, "I bet my buttons that was your sister. Don't want her to steal all the glory, do we? Come on everybody! Let's give a big round of applause to our newest tribute.

I didn't clap, and neither did Mother. What took me by shock was that no one else clapped either.

We both looked up and put our three middle fingers of our left hands to our lips and hold it out to Katniss. It's a way of saying goodbye to to someone you love, someone you admire.

Katniss looks ready to cry. Haymitch who probably isn't as drunk as he looks.

He puts his arm around her, and says, "look at her. Look at this one. I like her!"

Katniss makes a grossed-out face, as he continues, "Lots of..." He looks like he's thinking of the correct word. "Spunk! More than you!" He points to the camera. Is he talking to the capitol? How dangerous! "More than you!" He repeats.

Then he takes a head dive off the stage. I pay attention to Katniss, who took the opportunity of Haymitch to compose herself.

Once Haymitch is whisked away on a strecher, Effie continues, looking shaken, "What an exciting day!" She tries to unconspicously straighten her wig. "But more excitement to come! It's time to choose our boy tribute!" Trying to keep more dignity without letting on that her hair's a wig, she plants a hand on her head as she walks over to the boy's ball.

"Peeta Mellark." Oh no! The boy who makes the cakes int he bakery window! I love looking at them. They're so pretty! He's going to die. Everyone has to, if Katniss is going to win.


	3. Chapter 3

******THe Hunger Games In Prim's Point of View******

I numbly listen to the anthem as it finishes. My head jerks up just in time to see Katniss disapear into the Justice Building. I wipe my cheeks, and my hands come back wet.

I didn't even know that I was crying.

As soon as we're allowed to, Mother, Gale and I run to the Jusitce Building. Gale lets us so ahead of him. I smile at him gratefully. He'll make a great husband for Katniss one day.

As we enter the room, Katniss holds out her arms for me. I sit on her lap, with my arms around her neck, and rest my head on her shoulder. I'm a bit old for this, but it doesn't matter, it feels good.

Mother comes and wraps her arms around us. This is our family. Our incomplete unequal family. Father's gone and Katniss has too much responsability.

After a few minutes of silence enveloping us, Katniss begins talking; I'm not allowed tesserae. We can get by, only if we're careful, by selling Lady's milk and cheese. Mother needs to take care of her small apothecary bussiness for people in the Seam.

Gale's going to help us by getting herbs for my mother's medicine, but Mother needs to be careful when she describes them, because he's not as familiar with them as Katniss is. He'll also bring fresh meat.

When Katniss says this, I see something in her eyes. Pain? Sadness? No, trying to remember something. Her and Gale are so close.

I was hoping that she wouldn't bring up me learning to hunt, because every other time she's tried has been a disaster. The woods are illegal for one thing, and what if we get caught? Not to mention that whenever she killed something, I'd start crying. I just feel an obligation to the animals that I need to fufill. After all, since we eat them, shouldn't we be allowed to give back to them?

Once she finishes talking about all the important material things, she turns to Mother and deals with the emotional stuff. "Listen to me." Katniss is gripping her arm so hard that her knuckles are white.

"Are you listening to me?" Mother nods, she looks alarmed. My face probably mirrors hers. Katniss is usually so kind and gentle. Not intense like now," You can't leave again.

All the sudden, my Mother finds the floor ever so interesting, " I know. I won't. I couldn't help what-"

"Well, you have to help it this time. You can't clock out and leave Prim on her own." I wince at that. Am I really that helpless? "There's no me now to keep you both alive. It doesn't matter what happens. Whatever you see on the screen. You have to promise me you'll fight through it!" Katniss' voice escalated until she was shouting.

To be honest, I was a little frightened by it, and I shrunk into Katniss a little farther.

I see that Mother is too, since she pulls her arm back, "I was ill. I could have treated myself if I had the medicine I have now.

I see Katniss' expression change a little, "Then take it. And take care of her!" This wounds me a bit.

"I'll be all right Katniss," I clasp her face. I try to tell her with my eyes that I'm strong enough to take care of Mother, and myself. "But you have to take care, too. You're so fast and brave. Maybe you can win."

I look deep into Katniss' eyes. I see the doubt hiding in them. It would be hard for her to win, since there are other people there too. Just as smart, brave people.

Ruthless killers.

Huge oxes.

I gulp, remembering the years when people were in hand-and-hand combat.

I hated those years.

Katniss finally speaks, "Maybe, then we'd be as rich as Haymitch."

Ah, yes. The drunken old fool. I feel sorry for him, actually. He once said hi to me when he was sober.

I don't think he remember though.

"I don't care if we're rich. I just want you to come home. You will try, won't you? Really, really try?" I see her expression change at the sound of my pleas.

"Really, really try. I swear it." Somehow, I know she will. I just believe her.

And then the peacekeepers come. I sometimes wish that I was one. Then I could actually make peace instead of disrupting it.

Katniss is hugging us so tightly that I might not be able to breathe, but she's telling us that she loves us, which makes it worthwhile, and I choke out that I love her too, and stroke her hair.

She'll be alright. She has to be. After all, she's Katniss Everdeen. And no matter what anyone says, I know that she'll be back. She'll be coming home.


	4. Chapter 4

****The Hunger Games...Prim's POV***

Before leaving the Justice building for good, I have to make one last stop. Peeta Mellark's room.

Every year, I visit both tributes and talk to them. Be positive, and give them a small little thing for their token.

One year it was a little doll made of hay, which was supposed to be Lady's food, but she had much more as well.

Another year it was a bracelet made of potato skin. It was red, because I made Katniss mash up some berries and dip the bracelet in it.

The tokens were never big. They were never fancy, but they had meaning.

Real, true meaning. Meaning that if you wanted it to, you could look deeper into it and see that I made them myself, and I wanted the tributes to have a piece of home with them.

This year, I had a ring made of leaves from the forest that turned golden in the sunlight and blue in the moonlight.

They were beautiful. I had two, but I forgot to give Katniss a token. My eyes filled with tears at the very thought.

At least Peeta would have one.

I tell Mother that I'll be right out, and she nods.

I walk into the room because his Father had just left.

"Peeta? Hello. My name is Primrose Everdeen, which I'm pretty sure now everyone in District Twelve knows by now." I chuckle, but there's no humor in the sound.

He looks up, and sees me standing there awkwardly. " I-I-I'm so sorry." He says. Silent tears find their way down his face.

This was confusing...why was HE apologizing?

"No, don't be...I-It's my fault, not yours." I put my small hand on his shoulder.

He grins, but it's forced. I can see it. "Not for my dying. Katniss will come home, don't worry."

My eyebrows make a little "V."

I didn't understand. If it wasn't about Katniss, then why was he apologizing?

He sees my expression and his forced smile turns the ever slightlest bit real."There won't be anymore cakes for you anymore."

I think of this and smile slightly. So he had noticed a pair of sister from the Seam, the younger one dragging the older one to the Bakery.

But really, who could blame them? The cakes were beautiful, exquisite. Only someone with talent could do that.

"You have talent. One day, you could be an artist. A painter. Anything creative is your forte." I'm trying to cheer him up and it's working.

He smiles modestly. "You know, my mother has given up hope on me all together. She came before my dad, and wow! She was just so unsympathetic! She said that since I won't be here to ice the cakes, she'll just get rid of them altogether."

I nodded, she was really mean. And yet,, the baker himself was kind and caring. Katniss always said so.

Suddenly, I think of something, "Wait...didn't you say that Katniss was coming back?" He nodded. "What did you mean?"

He shrugs," She's very skilled, your sister. Hardworking, strong, skilled and a survivor. My mother seems to think so at least."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. I thought that Katniss would go unnoticed by everyone at school, but now I know that at least one person watches her.

The boy with the bread.

Katniss told me the story. That Peeta was the one who gave her the warm bakery bread that cold, miserable day.

I never understood rain. Why would you want to see nothing but cold, wet and evil stuff fall from the ground.

Okay, so maybe rain isn't exactly evil, but you get my point.

I prefer sunshine myself. It promises warmth, comfort, and the best thing possible...love.

The love the sun gives to the people in the form of it's light, and hopefulness.

The love the sun gives the flowers helping them stand tall, and being brave.

The love the sun gives the trees and fruit on the leaves telling them to never stop growing.

The love that envelopes me like a warm blanket on a cold wet day.

The love that Peeta has given my sister that day.

The day I realized that rain isn't always an end. Sometimes it's a beggining.

"You gave Katniss the bread. You were the one who helped her survive. Not just her too, but me, and our Mother."

He smiles, almost sheepishly, "She was so desperate. I'd hate for her to die."

Then the time's up, and with the last few words haning in the air, I urgently hand him the ring, and tell him to use it as his district token.

He nods, and waves goodbye to me, maybe forever. Who knows? All I know is that as I walk out of the Justice Building with Mother, I see Buttercup. Oops, I forgot about how he usually says goodbye with me.

I apologize and give him a kiss. Mother stares at me, and then kisses me on the forehead.

After all, she must be proud how I didn't cry until I got home.


	5. Chapter 5

****The Hunger Games...Prim's POV***

"Hold still Prim!" Mother usually is less agressive and more patient when she brushes my hair. The stress of Katniss in the Hunger Games must've gotten to her.

I don't blame her, just yesterday, when Ms. Kugoy asked me a question in class, I nearly burst into tears.

Which was silly, considering that the question was whether or not I had brought my lunch.

The thing is, Katniss always packs my lunch. But Mother forgot to do it since Katniss wasn't here, and Rory had to share his with me.

I felt awful, considering their family has even less food then us.

"Sorry Mother." I try to hold as still as possible. But just then Gale knocks on the door. It has to be Gale, who else could it be?

But then again, Gale usually comes right in. It's not rude or anything, he's basically extended family.

"Coming." Mother rushes to the door, and I hear it open. "Oh! Madge! What a surprise!"

Madge? Why is she here? She and Katniss are friends...I guess. I think, she visited her in the Justice Building. And Katniss told me that sometimes they sit together. So, maybe they are friends.

"Hello Mrs. Everdeen, Prim." She's caught sight of me, and I see that she's holding a large basket with her. "I thought that since the Chariot costumes are about to be on television, you'd want some company. I brought some food. Bread, butter, even some blueberry jam."

I, myself thought that this was very kind and considerate, so I invited her in immediately, " Do come in. Thank you for coming. Gale Hawthorne is coming soon. Do you know him? He's Katniss' friend."

She smiled at me gratefully. I could tell that she thought that Mother was still sick from when our Father died. "Thanks Prim. I know of him. Your hair is very pretty today, who did it?"

I caught a glimpse of myself in our Father's small shaving mirror that I just polished this morning. I did look different. Very...Katniss-like.

I realized that Mother had put my hair up in the exact same hairstyle that Katniss had for the reaping.

"Mother did it. It's the same as Katniss' was for the Reaping." My eyes filled up with tears. I try, in vain, to wipe them away, but it's too late. They're flowing frely now.

Suddenly, I feel warm arms sround me, tentative, unfamiliar, not particularly strong, but not weak either. _Madge. _The thought that I have someone who cares about me, is enough to make me feel a little happier.

Another noise, I think footsteps approaching through our open door, arises. Madge breaks the hug, but keeps her arm around me, as though I'm her sister, not just her friend's sister.

She really is very nice.

"Hi, we came for support. We brought some soup." It's Greasy Sae, and her little granddaughter. She looks cute, but there's something about her eyes that hints about her mental stability not being entirely whole.

Our little foyer is getting a bit crowded now, so I herd everyone into the living room with the rikecty little TV. I take everyone's food rations and pull up a little table that fits my needs. Then I go and to help balance everything out, since Gale is still coming, add all four of our unstable chairs.

With them, the couch that fits about three people and Father's big armchair, everyone should fit.

I forgot about the fact that Gale is probably bringing his family. As I remember this, I look at the food, and I put some goat milk, and cheese on the table. Thats should be enough.

Once satisfied, I snuggle against the worn recliner that Father used to sit in. I quickly brush away a tear, and turn my attention to the screen.

"Next up, we have the second best part of the Games, the chariot costumes! Stay tuned, because trust me, you will NOT want to miss the chance to see all of the beautiful costumes our lovely stylists created!" The reporter is scary-looking with orange skin and unnatually long eyelashes.

She lets out a big whoop and then the screen changes to a picture of City CIrcle.

I cringe, happy that Twelve is last. Katniss will probably be in some awful coal-miner's outfit.

"Prim? Mrs. Everdeen?" Ah, Gale has arrived. With him, I see Rory, Vick, Posy, and Mrs. Hawthorne.

I leap to my feet, "Gale! Hi, we were just about to start watching it! Come on in, make yourselves at home."

Gale nods grimly and sets some ready-t-eat meat from a rabbit on the table.

"As per usual, District One is looking fabulous! My! Bradely, would you look at that girl? She is one slice of delicious, yum." I wrnkle my nose, the commentators are so disgusting.

Since there was one man and one woman with creepy names, we keep it on, because without their chatter, the room would be death silent.

"Yes, Angelu, I couldn't agree more, but if you look at District Two, well those are the ones who I wouldn't want to get into a fight with." The woman chuckles, and they keep up this shallow banter until District Eleven.

"Oh my. Well, would you look at that girl. She is..."

"Stunning."

"So delicate."

"Well, we both know that she won't last a moment in these games. Not with the pair from two, and her district partner for that matter, I mean have you seen his muscles?"

"Huge."

"Scary." As if on cue, they both shuddered."

I stared at the screen, repusled. I couldn't believe how mean they were being. Not to mention how easily they talked about this little girl's death.

"DIsgusting, " Spat Gale. His mother laid a soothing hand on his arm as if to say, _Not here, in the woods in okay, but not here. _He must've gotten her message because his face immediately goes neutral.

Wish I could do that. Oh! Here's District Twelve!

And as I am about to close my eyes, I catch sight of them and with everyone else, simutaneously gasp.

They are covered in fire. Katniss looks...stunning. There's no other word. Even that one barely covers it. As the camera zooms in, I can't believe what I'm seeing, Katniss is smiling. Waving. Blowing kisses.

I rub my eyes. It's definitely Katniss, not only that, but she's..holding hands? With Peeta Mellark?

Gale makes a noise, halfway between a growl and a whimper. I see his knuckles turn white.

Greasy Sae is the first to speak, "Oh my goodness. Who'd thought Katniss..."

She didn't have to finish her sentence. We all already have, in our heads.

As President Snow makes his speech, no one listens, we are too transfixed by Katniss, and Peeta. But mostly Katniss.

Once they are back into the big building, we switch the TV off. No one speaks for a long time, then Mrs. Hawthorne points out, rather brightly, "Well, it was better than we hoped for, not to mention that dince that's over, we can eat!"

Greasy Sae smiles and walks over ot the table to start dividing the rations. In the end, everyone has some bread with either bread, cheese or jam on it, some milk, a small bit of rabbit, and some soup.

Even though we're all laughing and talking happily. I see the truth in their eyes. The haunted look in my Mother's. The pityful look in Greasy Sae. The lost, confused look in her granddaughter. The anger in Gale's.

The last is what scared me. I will never know what goes through his mind. I don't think anyone but Katniss ever will.


	6. Chapter 6

**This is the first time I've ever included an author's note in this story, so I hope you read it! First of all, merry Christmas! Hope that Santa visited everyone! Second of all, I don't want to be one of those people who don't review, but until I started getting them, I never knew how awesome it felt to get them. Please review. I'm an amateur, so I need all the help I can get! That's it, also, thankyou to those who are reviewing; **

**Llexys, GothGirl69, CierraAguilera, Fina2212, micmic022, and KahlanRahl, thankyou so much! You can finally read it!**

The next couple of days will be hard, I know that. Mother knows that. Gale knows that. Even the baker, Mr. Mellark, who came by yesterday with a loaf of fresh bread knows it.

Why? Because we won't see Katniss on TV like we did for the chariot rides. Even though she was stunning and is probably already raking up sponsors, Gale had been tense for the whole entire day yesterday when we ate.

And when we ate, boy was it good. The bread had jam that melted on your tongue and the stew had much more flavor than usual, and the rabbit was so juicy and cooked just right.

Overall, it had been (in my opinion) an ecellent day.

At least, that's what I kept telling my Mother. She's made progress, she actually ate something yesterday, a little bit of stew and some bread.

"Prim, you here? I saw your mother. She was at the hob. Looked so scared that I made Greasy Sae guide her around the market stalls." Gale's familiar boom fills our small house with a noise that had long since disappeared when our father was blown to bits.

"In the kitchen, making a new herbal blend that sound take the sting off burns." I chatter to him excitedly as he nods and starts skinning and cleaning the game that he caught today.

He looks interested enough, but it's usually Katniss with whom I talk about this stuff with. I sigh, and Gale sensing my emotions opens his arms.

I fall right into them, knowing that one day, when Katniss comes back, he'll be my brother-in-law. After all, they belong together.

"You know that pretty soon Katniss' training score will be on TV." He murmured into my hair.

"i know. I'm scared to bits." I feel him cringe at the word 'bits.' His father was dead in the same mine explosion as mine was. Oops.

"She'll do fine. She'll do fine. Don't worry. This is Katniss we're talking about, remember?"

i nod my head but then realize that he can't see me. "Yes. And she's going to win too, because she's better than the others and she deserves it more."

He releases me and looks at me solemnly, "She will, Prim, she will. Now, do you want to go into the woods with me? You don't have to kill anything, you can pick some berries and herbs that your Mother needs in her concotions."

I think about this. What else am I going to do? It's not like I have anything important here. And maybe I can be of some actual help.

I nod and follow him out to the chain-link fence.

Suddenly I stop, "Wait, what about my Mother? What do you think she would assume if she came home to an empty house?"

Gale hesitated for a moment, but then shook his head. "No, she'll know that you're with me."

I may've known Gale really well, but I didn't trust him as much as I trusted Katniss...Still, she trusts him, so, what have I got to lose?

"Okay." He smiles and throws a rock at the fence to test it. "All clear, ladies first?"

I crouch down and make myself as small as possible. I've never been in these woods without Katniss. I must admit, I miss her more than anything.

When she left, she gave me this big hole in my heart, and no matter how many friends try to comfort me, no one but her can ever fill it.

I take a deep breath and crawl under it.

An hour later, Gale and I are still in the woods, but I'm not an anxios as before, at least, I'm able to stray farther from Gale to go pick the plants.

He's been hunting animals and checking his snares while I've been collecting all sorts of various things, from Dandilions, to mint leaves.

I've got alot, but I still keep gathering, because between two families, this would be enough for about one meal.

"Oh my goodness! Prim! Prim! Come here! You have to see this!"

I rush over to where he's calling me and I see something that makes my eyes widen. In one of his snares, is three rabbits. In one. Not two. Not three. One. Three.

"Wow. Do you think that maybe in the other snares..?" I don't even have time to finish before he rushes over to his next snare. In it are two rabbits.

I squint, and rub my eyes to make sure I'm not seeing things, no it's definitely there. "Something must've scared it off. A bigger predator."

I see a hint of recognition on Gale's face. I guess that this has happened before, and Katniss said something like that.

"You know, Katniss once said something almost identical to that..." I was right.

Huh. I guess that we really are alike. I feel a spark of hope inside me, maybe, one day, I'll make something of myself like Kantiss already has.

That's all I can hope for.

He takes the rabbits out, sets the snare back up and walks to the one we were just at. He takes them and puts them in his gamebag. He continues this for the rest of the snares while I gather greens behind him. We're not talking to each other, lost in our own thoughts.

I wonder if Gale and Katniss ever kissed. Probably not. They have such an easygoing, carefree relationship. It'd probably be ruined by just a kiss.

If only I could tell Gale that Katniss likes him as more than a friend. But that'd be a little awkward, _Hey Gale, my sister likes you, but she doesn't know it yet. _

Yeah, not a conversation I want to have.

"Prim, you ready to go? Your Mother's probably back by now."

We start the long trekk home, and I continue to gather greens, because, there's never such a thing as too many greens.

Once we're at the shabby door of my house, we divide the greens and the meat. Turns out, he also got a gallon of berries, not strawberries, so he couldn't sell them to the mayor, but either way, good berries.

I invite him in and once he's in the foyer, I make him a cup of tea.

I don't know why I invited him in, but he looks content, sitting here in silence, sipping tea.

We both hear it at the same time, footsteps. Running. Not away from something, but towards.

The sound is identified at my Mother bursts into through the door.

"Prim! Prim! You'll never believe what I did today! I traded at the hob! With the food left over from yesterday! Oh, and Greasy Sae was so nice! You should've seen it!" And there she goes, babbling on and on.

She's never talked this much since...the accident with our Father and the mines.

"Well, I better be off, congratulations Ms. Everdeen. See you tomorrow Prim. I'll send Rory over sometime too." With a wink towards me, he's gone.

I'm still blushing as Mother looks at all the food on the table.

"Oh, Prim, did you get this?" She looks proud.

"No," I say, almost regretfully, I hate disapointing anyone, "Actually, I got the greens, but Gale was in charge of the meat."

She nods, and then crosses the room to put her arms around me. I snuggle into her embrace.

"Today Katniss trains for her death." I can barely make out the words that Mother whispers into my hair.

I say the thing that's been haunting me ever since the reaping,

"It should've been me."


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, thankyou so much! I got eight reviews in total for this story, and I know that's not alot, but it's the most in all of my stories, I'd like to throw a thanks out to GothGirl69, and ****Shoyou10010689. What did everyone get for christmas? I got a kindle, which I completely love and a new laptop, so much better than my old one! Once again, thanks for the reviews. :-)**

Today was the day when Katniss went and showed the Gamemakers what she was made of.

I knew that she was going to impress them, but I just wasn't sure how.

Bow and arrows? Knives? Edible plants? I stop myself at the last one. It isn't very impressive, she probably'll do bow and arrows.

I wish I was as good with them as she is. Katniss never misses her target.

I finish milking Lady, and put the bucket full of it under a shelf in our house so that it'll stay safe from Buttercup and mice.

"Prim, will you bring me my shawl? It's a tad chilly in here." Ah, Mother must be up.

I look around, but her shawl isn't draped across the back of a chair like it normally was. I furrow my eyebrows, then where..? I look around the room until my eyes land on the coat closet.

Of course! Mother used her nicer one on Reaping Day, so she must've hung the other one up. I walk over to it and open the door.

I feel around in it for the soft, almost silk fabric of the shawl, but my hands brush against something else first.

I'm confused at first, nothing's in here but my two coats, Mother's shawls and Katniss' coat.

Motivated by this, I pull the fabric out of it's place, nothing makes sense when I see just some worn leather until I smooth it out.

Oh._ Oh. _**Oh. **

It's Katniss' hunting jacket. I close my eyes and put it close to my face, breathing in Katniss' famliiar smell of the woods and something else. Though I'm not sure what it is. It's just...Katniss.

I shove it back into the closet, grab the shawl and run away. Not because I'm scared, but because I don't want to be there.

With the jacket. And the boots. With the memories.

As I enter the little bedroom, I see my Mother making up the beds, and putting flowers in the vase to make the room seem brighter.

"There you are-Prim? Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." I wince at my Mother's alarmed expression. No, she has to worry about Katniss, not me.

"I'm fine, I-I-I tripped." I can feel my face burning. Normally I don't lie, as a matter of fact, I hate it, but I'm not the one who's going to be up against twenty-three other kids, all of whom want to kill me.

That's Katniss. Not me. Not her little duck.

Three days ago, when I told Mother that I thought it was all my fault about the Katniss going to the Hunger Games, she had cried with me and told me that it wasn't my fault, that it was no one's and the Hunger Games were something that couldn't be helped, and we just had to tough it out and that's what Katniss would've wanted.

I had nodded and said I understood, but I knew the truth. It was my fault, if I hadn't been so weak, then Katniss could've stayed here and took care of Mother, but no. I was the weak one.

The one who can't take care of herself. I had cried, sobbed, wailed, even broken a finger that night because I was so frustrated. Couldn't anyone see that I was to blame? Everyone kept telling me that it wasn't my fault.

If only they knew. I did something bad. Very bad. I had to, what else was I supposed to do?

I don't want to think about it though. Mother's voice brought me out of my thoughts, "Okay, well Prim, since it's so nice out today, I think that we should watch the scores in the square on the big TV, instead of here."

I started to protest, but then Mother held up a hand, "No Prim, I don't want to hear it. Go to school, you don't want to be late, do you?"

She gave me a kiss on the forehead and continued straightening the room up. I sighed and walked to school where I met Rory, who was in a really good mood, so good that he hugged me in front of everyone. I blushed when everyone laughed, but he just smiled.

"Why so happy?" I inquired during lunch.

His answer confused me, "I don't know, it's just-Have you ever felt like something good is going to happen?"

"No, I can't see the future." He laughed at that and then shared his sandwich with me.

Later that day, when we were almost to my house, he looked around, it wasn't very crowded here, as a matter of fact, the only person here was the Goat Man.

He seemed satisfied and turned towards me. Then before I knew what was happening, he kissed me. It was short and sweet. But it was, in my opinion, wonderful.

When he pulled away, he grinned slyly, "I guess that was the good thing that was going to happen."

Then with a wave and a "Bye Prim," I was left all alone.

Analyzing the kiss. I bite my cheek and touch the place on my lips where his touched mine.

I had never kissed a boy before, besides my Father. It was a really memorable experience.

When I finally walked home, I saw Mother frantically pulling on a pretty dress. "Prim! I was wondering where you were. We're going to be late!"

Huh. I guess I was standing there longer than I thought. "Well, let's go, let's go, let's go!" Before I knew it, Mother had my arm and was pulling me to the square.

People parted for us and murmured greeting. Some sympathetically touched our arms, others just gave a pityful look. I tried smiling at everyone, but I was too nervous. What if Katniss got a bad score. No no no no no, can't think like that. She'll get the best score out of everyone. I know it.

Suddenly, there's a loud burst of static and the TV flashes to life.

"Look Mommy! Pictuwes!" A little todler missing her two font teeth is excited by the TV and is tugging on her mom's skirt.

"Yes, yes, Mint, not now." The little girl sits on her mom's foot and giggles.

I sigh. I wish I was little again. I had nothing to worry about, no reapings, no dead Father, no sick Mother. Just the Hunger Games, but I was so little that I didn't understand them.

The first face flashes a handsome boy from District One, he got an eight. Typical for a career.

The rest of the scores are the same as always, the careers get predictably good scores, almost everyone else gets in the five-six range. It's only at District Eleven I pay attention, I see the girl my age get a seven, I think her name was Rue.

Peeta Mellark earns an eight. There's some whistling and clapping, because, that's a pretty good score.

I'm clasping Mother's hand so hard and so many people keep stealing glances at us, and next thing you know, there's a picture of Katniss, as pretty as ever, and District Twelve is there, and then a number's flashing and the crowd is leaning forwards in anticipation.

I look at the number and am shocked by what I see. It clearly says: 11.

And the square is dead-silent.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi Reader! This chapter's the interview, which I'm super excited about! I can't wait to show Gale's reaction to Peeta's confession! Also, to anyone who's reading this, there's this really wonderful book I've started reading, called The Help. It's amazing! You can read it at onread(dot)com for free, or you can get it on paper. By the way, this is my longest chapter yet! Yay!**

**GothGirl69- Haha, that's so cool, can you believe that the first books I got were the Hunger Games, what about you?**

**Shoyou10010698- Yeah, they just make the cutest couple, I had to put that in there. Glad you liked it! :-)**

**Okay, enough ranting, you can read it!**

Ever since Rory kissed me, we'd been hanging out a lot more, but we haven't kissed again. We are kind of young.

Today after school, Rory took me to the meadow with some bread and cheese and said that we were going to have a picnic.

Rory handed me a piece of bread, "What're you thinking about Prim?"

"Buttercup." He hadn't been home last night, which was okay, he usually went wondering at night then came back to guard me. But this morning when I was getting ready for school, he still wasn't there. I was getting worried.

"Don't worry, he'll come home eventually, I mean, where could he go, the woods?" As he spoke the words, his eyes lit up with an idea.

"No! Rory, we are not going into the woods!"

"Why not?" He's looking at me with his eyes, and oh my goodness, they're so shiny. But no, must not get distracted with eyes.

"Because it's not safe. If we had Gale, or Katniss, or someone with us, we could go. But we don't, so..." I nod, happy with my defense.

"Fine, I'll go myself, and when I find Buttercup, you'll be so grateful that you'll have to give me your bread." I never noticed that his eyes have this sparkling quality when he has an idea.

I sigh, knowing that he'll convince me, "Fine, but we can't go far."

He grins, and grabs my hand, sending tingles up my spine. His hand is so warm and soft. Not yet callused. I hope he never lets go.

But he does. And too soon in my opinion. "Come on Prim, you first," He gestures to the hole under the fence.

I squeeze my eyes shut, knowing that I'm making a mistake. Then I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding and crawl under really carefully.

Once I'm on the other side, I take a good look around. If I was here with Katniss or Gale, I wouldn't be half as scared as I am right now.

Not that I don't trust Rory. I do. But I trust Katniss more, and Katniss trusts Gale. Therefore, I trust him.

Rory slids under the fence, cautious of the wires hanging down, and then pops up besides me, grinning.

I groan and start walking to the big trees in the forest. Rory takes my lead and tells me about what happened at the Hob when he went there with Gale yesterday.

"And then, he fell, _onto the Goat Man!_" He's laughing really hard, and I have to admit, it is rather funny. I allow myself a giggle and pretty soon, we both laughing so hard that it hurts my ribs and my eyes are starting to water.

I try to regain control, I haven't laughed like that since Father died. Rory stops laughing too when he sees a berry bush. "You hungry?"

"Sure." I follow him to the bush where we're content eating berries for the next ten minutes.

Rory's the first to break the silence, "Should we start looking for Buttercup? Call him or something?"

"Okay, um, maybe we should've brought...cheese...or something." I look at Rory for a minute before he gets some berries in his hands and then gets down on his hands and knees.

"Here kitty kitty. Buttercup, come come Princess." He looks so ridiculous on the gorund that I have to laugh.

"He's a boy, silly!" I say, loud, but not too loud for someone to hear, "Buttercup, where are you? Prim is here for you. Come to Prim."

Suddenly, I hear a faint meow. It sounds hopeful, like it's looking for something.

"Buttercup!" I cry, relieved that I found him.

That is, until I see that the cut. It's on his stomache, and while it's not long, it's deep. I can see that with almost no light.

"Oh Rory! We've got to get ice on this! And medicine! You poor baby, " I feel so bad for Buttercup that I tuck him under my arm and run all the way to the fence.

I'm about to go under when I realize that I can't. Not with Buttercup. I start panicking, but Rory's trying to calm me down and Buttercup's hurt, and-and-and Katniss is in the Hunger Games and Mother ran out of her medicine and I just can't take it. I just can't take it anymore.

I sink to the ground and close my eyes. I hear Rory saying that Buttercup can still crawl through, then we can go through, or something like that, when all the sudden he stopped talking and pressed his warm lips against my own.

I immediately become aware of how close we are to the fence and how anyone who's wondering into the meadow could see us, but I don't care. When Rory pulls away, I let Buttercup leap out of my arms and flatten himself under the fence.

Rory doesn't say anything, just motions with his hands to go first. I crawl under and he follows. The walk to my house is silent. Not uncomfortable though.

Once we arrive, I turn and look at him for the first time since the kiss by the fence.

"Thankyou," I say softly. I don't know what you say to a boy after they kiss you, but he helped me find Buttercup too.

He smiles and walks away. I open the door and see Mother there, looking through the cabinet for an empty container. She glances at me, "Gale dropped off some more of my medicine. I see you've found Buttercup."

"Yeah, he was in the woods. Something hurt him. On his stomache." I frown and show Mother the cut.

She tells me orders, "get this, " or "no, not this one, " I give her everything, because I don't want Buttercup to suffer.

"You know, " She says, absentmindedly once she's finished, "Katniss' interview is tonight. We're watching it here. Not after what happened last time."

After everyone got over the shock of an Eleven as a score for District Twelve of all places, the aquare erupted into cheers, whistles, I think I even saw some people singing.

And good reason too. The highest score anyone's ever gotten in Twelve has been a nine, and even then, someone came on the TV afterwards to say they meant to write six.

Anyways, after all that, peacekeepers came, and had to force people into their homes. Then they wouldn't let the Seam go into the town for the rest of the day, and most of yesterday as well. Some people, like Hazelle who had jobs there, had nearly had a fit about it, but the peacekeepers wouldn't budge. They were harsher than usual.

I shook my head, trying to rid it of the memory. Mother saw this, and guided me over to the couch where we turned on the TV and waited for the interviews. There were alot of different angles, some were sneaky, quiet, menacing, and sexy. But I didn't care about them. I wanted to know Katniss'. Would she be humble? Devious and cunning? Flirty and silly? I couldn't wait to see. And then there she is.

She looks beautiful in a dress, that looks like she's on fire. Katniss, the girl who was on fire. The name suits her. She shakes Ceasar Flickerman's hand, who is just as ugly as every year before.

"So, Katniss, the capitol must have been quite a change from District Twelve. What's impressed you the most since you arrived here?"

I see panic clear in her eyes and it seems like she's looking right above the cameras. Finally, she answers, "The lamb stew." Lamb stew? Sounds like she's been eating well.

Ceasar and the audience laugh, "The one with the dried plus?" Katniss nods, it sounds good, " Oh, I eat it by the bucketful." He turns to the audience, mock horror on his face, "It doesn't show, does it?" They laugh and shout things like, "Never on you Ceasar!"

He smiles, and continues interviewing my sister, "Now Katniss, when you came out in the opening ceremonies, my heart actually stopped. What did you think of that costume?"

Katniss is still looking above the camera when she answers, "You mean after I got over the fear of being burned alive?"

The audience laughs and Ceasar replies, "Yes. Start then."

Katniss has a hint of a smile on her face, "I thought CInna was brilliant and it was the most gorgeous costume I'd ever seen and I couldn't believe I was wearing it. I can't believe I'm wearing this either." When Katniss lifts up her skirt, she looks engulfed in flames. It's amazing. "I mean, look at it."

Then, after the audience has appreciated it with _oohs _and _ahs_, she twirls. Mother and I don't breath for a minute, all because Katniss is just so beautiful.

Apparently, Ceasar agrees, "Oh, do that again!" She does and when she stops she clutches his arm, he looks crushed, "Don't stop!"

"I have to, I'm dizzy." She's giggling. Katniss. Giggling.

"Do you think that we should've invited Hazelle and the kids?" Mother wrinkles her forehead. She must be confused. I know I am.

"No, they're coming. Probably on their way right now." I answer absentmindedly. "Actually, they should be here by now."

As if they heard what we said, Gale is there, knocking, trailed by Vick and Rory, whom, when I see, I blush, and Ms. Hawthorne holding Posy.

"Sorry we're late! Posy's sick." Ms Hawthorne looks flushed and tired. Mother leaps up to healp her out. We turn to the TV to see that we missed the rest of Katniss' interview. And they were moving onto Peeta's.

Gale looks crestfallen that he misses Katniss' interview but his Mother murmurs a few words to him and he nods.

We all tune back into the interview, Ceasar's asking Peeta a question, whether or not he has a girlfriend back home. I know for a fact that he doesn't.

He hesitates and Ceasar jumps on this, "Handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?"

Peeta sighs, "Well, there is this one girl. I've had a crush on her since I can remember. But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the reaping."

The audience sounds sympathetic. "She has another fellow?" Ceasar just won't give up.

"I don't know, but alot of boys like her, " says Peeta.

"So here's what you do. You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then, eh?" Ceasar grins, like it's this brilliant solution.

'I don't think it's going to work out. Winning...won't help in my case, " says Peeta. He looks pained admitting this.

"Why ever not?" Ceasar is obviously confused.

Peeta is suddenly a tomato-red shade, and he stammers out. "Because...because...she came here with me."


	9. Chapter 9

Originally, the interview was going to be in just one chapter, but the picnic took longer than I thought and I was trying to follow the format of the books, and the interviews were divided in two chapters...so...

Here's Gale's reaction :-)

Once, when the capitol was showing full coverage of blowing up Thirteen, I watched it with Katniss. The moment before the bombs dropped was silent. Peaceful even.

That was what happened right now. No one said anything for, hours it seemed like. It was probably only a couple seconds.

Then, the bomb, or in this case, Gale dropped. He started yelling out profanities and his face was_ purple_ with rage. Purple!

It probably didn't help that when the cameras showed Katniss' reaction, she blushed and looked up at the cameras through her eyelashes.

"-THAT GOOD FOR NOTHING SUCKUP! HE WILL DIE IN THE BLOODBATH! HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW KATNISS THAT SON OF A-" Gale obviously needed to work through some issues.

Posy started crying and Rory and Vick were yelling at Gale to calm down and I looked around and the room was-well, there's no other way to put it, chaotic.

Mother and I had froze, and Mrs. Hawthorne was soothing Posy, and her sons, all three of them, were arguing.

"YOU'RE JUST FRIENDS! WHAT DOES IT MATTER WHETHER OR NOT SHE LIKES THE BAKERS KID?" Ouch, Rory must've been really mad at Gale for yelling.

"WHAT DOES IT MATTER? WHAT DOES IT MATTER? IT MATTERS BECAUSE KATNISS IS MY HUNTING PARTNER NOT THAT-THAT-THAT COWARD'S!"

All the sudden, I don't know who started it, but Rory and Gale were punching each other. Punching! And they're supposed to be brothers.

I, with the help of Vick, shove them apart and we try to talk some sense in them.

"Look, Katniss never said that she loved him. Did she?" Gale shakes his head, embarassed by the way he acted, but still purple in the face. I continue with reasoning, "So then, it must just be a little schoolboy's crush. So calm down."

Gale takes this the wrong way and shoves Vick off him and storms out, still screaming profanities. I swear, there's something wrong with that boy.

I reach up to put my head in my hands and feel something moist on my cheek. Tears? When did I start crying?

"Prim, will you-?" Mrs. Hawthorne motions to the door, asking me to go help Gale pull himself together. I know why she wouldn't ask Rory or Vick. He's probably still angry with them.

I nod and rush after him, knowing there's only one place that he'd go.

Once I'm under the fence-I feel no fear this time-I spot Gale shoving brush out of his way, making a path of destruction behind him.

I don't say anything once I catch up to him. Just follow him until we get to this rock. It's wide enough for two people, roughly Gale and Katniss' sizes to sit.

I sit down next to him and wait for him to say something. When he does, it's completely unrelated, "She found the strawberries."

I touch his arm in a comforting way. Letting him go on if he wants to. He does. "She let me a have bow. She always gave me more food. She once brushed my hair. She was-" He chokes off, and I rest my head on his shoulder.

Finally, after what feels like forever, he finishes his sentence quietly, "She was who I loved."

I think of something that would comfort him. "She loved you too. She just didn't know it. You guys belong together. Someone's going to kill, " I wince at the thought, "Peeta Mellark. Katniss won't. She'll kill, but in the end, she'll be the one coming home."

Gale gets a purple face again, "Don't you see Prim? No one wins! Except President Snow! Because people kill! Because everyone knows that once someone's reaped, they're not coming back. Whether they win or lose, it doesn't matter. Once you go in that arena, the person who you were forever is gone. Gone, and theres nothing-nothing-you can do-" He collapses on my shoulder.

I wonder how I'm going to get him under the fence for a moment, but then I feel him shaking against me and I know that he didn't faint. I heave a sigh of relief.

Until I realize that he's crying. I hug him and try to comfort him while he lets it out.

I know he probably wants to be alone, but it doesn't matter. I'm here and I could never just leave him here no matter how much he wants me to go. "Shh, it's okay. She'll win and she'll come back. Nothing will change her. Don't worry. Shh, don't cry." I repeat this while patting him on the back.

I hear them before I see them, Rory and Vick. I know that Gale would never want them to see him cry, but I'm surprised when the owner of the footsteps comes into view. I was partially right, there are two of them, but one isn't human.

"Buttercup! Posy! What are you guys doing here?" I exclaim, rather miffed as to how they got under the fence and away from Mrs. Hawthorne.

"Posy's here?" Gale shoots up, his dark, heavy eyebrows lifted in surprise. He swoops down and gathers her in his arms. "Why are you here Posy? Where's Mommy?"

She just giggles, "Gale, you have wet teeks." Aw, listen to her baby voice! Wait, no, focus.

"Posy, tell me, where is Mother? And why are you here?" Then he lowers his voice, "And why did you have to bring Buttercup?"

I laugh as Buttercup hisses in defense.

"Wowy sent us. I wanna help you Galey." I laugh again, Galey?

_Galey_ rolls his eyes, and starts walking towards the fence. I quickly hurry beside him, "Wait Gale, Posy's right." I'm trying to tell him that he looks like he'd been crying without saying so in front of her.

He nods in understanding and walks towards the little river where he cleans his face and splashes Posy with water as she squeals in delight.

"Galey, dat was fun. Posy wanna do again!" Gale rolls his eyes and gently helps her under the fence.

I let Buttercup crawl through, then after we're all on the same side, Gale picks Posy up and tries to mantain dignity walking through the road, where people are staring at him.

I plead everyone with my eyes, _please go away. Can't you see he's upset enough already?_

I'm grateful when we finally arrive back at my house. Gale takes a deep sigh and then pushes the door open.

I see that Mother and Mrs. Hawthorne are talking, their faces creased in worry, Rory and Vick holding ice packs to their cheeks and two cups of tea waiting on the table for us.

Gale walks over to his mother and gives her Posy, who is dismayed to find that she's wet.

"Mommy, why am I awl wet?" I have to laugh at how anything sounds so cute in her little baby voice.

I walk over to where Gale is apoligizing to his brothers, and take Rory's hand in my own. I feel him squeeze it and that's enough to make me smile so big it looks semi-creepy.

"Don't worry Gale, everyone knows you guys will get married when you're older-uh, I mean,-not get married-er, ah, I have to..." Vick rushes away, out of zone from Gale's death glare.

Rory sighs, and takes over, "Look Gale, I'm sorry I punched you, which, by the way, you should get some ice on."

"Okay, and remember, the baker's kid, if he comes back and Katniss doesn't, you're helping me kill him." Gale's eyes are narrowed and his mouth is set in a cruel line.

I shudder, not ever wanting to see that expression again. Rory, feeling how tense I am, gives my hand another squeeze.

"Gale, " Mother says, "Would you want to watch the games with us tomorrow? All of you, your mother, Rory, Vick, Posy...We'll be watching it here. Not in the square."

He nods and grabs Rory's arm and VIck's wrist, "Let's go." I don't think he meant to be rude, I think he wanted to get away from this house, where there are so many memories of Katniss.

I don't blame him, but at least he's not the reason she's in the Hunger Games.


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm going to start putting the author's note at the bottom, this is the start of the games, and since I'm following the format of the book, it'll end when Katniss sees the arena. If I think that that's too short, I'll make it the first day in the arena. On a happier note, thanks to everyone who reviewing! Your reviews are like candy! :-)**

I open my eyes and slip away from Mother. I wonder what Katniss is doing to-

Oh yeah. Today she actually starts the games. I sink to the floor and take deep breaths. She's strong, she'll get through this. She gets through everything. I know she will.

I wonder what the arena will be like, maybe it'll be a frozen wasteland. Or a scorching desert. Maybe just one big green area.

I shudder, imagining all of the ways that Katniss could die. Posionous plants. She's too smart for that. Untreated water. She'd know better. Another tribute. My stomach clenches into a knot at that possibility.

It's not that I don't think she's a good fighter, but she's better at fighting distance, not to mention that she might not even get her bow and arrows. I think she'd be better off staying out of the bloodbath and just running to the forest instead.

I wince. She'll probably be in the Stockyards by now, getting her outfit. Hopefully it'll give her a clue about the arena.

Gale will be coming soon too. I sigh.

It's not the I don't like him, but ever since yesterday, I've been wondering if he's safe to be around.

Good thing I had sense to remove all sharp, pointy, breakable objects from the room where the TV is. I won't let him in any other room.

As I turn on the TV to watch the pre-games show where the weigh over the tributes possibility to get out of the bloodbath alive. I turn it on mute.

Mother comes out and gives on look at my dishelved state, "Katniss is the one who doesn't have to care about her appearance Prim. Go put something decent on."

"Mother, do I have to? It's only Hazelle and the-" I break of mid-sentence realizing that Rory will be there. I think I'm blushing as I put on my school outfit. School is always cancelled for the first day in the Games.

"Knock, knock. We're here!" says Hazelle.

I smile and walk over to help her since she's carrying Posy and a plate of food. I take Posy and bounce her up and down on the couch.

When I was her age, Father did it to me. I loved it.

"Pim, I wanna pice of bead." Posy's looking at me so seriously, that I giggle.

"Okay Posy, stay right here, I'll go get you some bread." I give her back to Mrs. Hawthorne as I walk into the kitchen. We only have tessarae bread so I cut a slice of that and walk back out to give it to her.

"What do you say Posy?" Mrs. Hawthorne pokes her belly like Katniss used to do to me.

"Tankyou Pim." Posy smiles at me and I notice that her two front teeth are missing.

"And now, finally Joe. What do you think the odds of the 'girl on fire' are?" Scary reporter number one is smiling creepily at a lady who has bunny ears.

Scary reporter number two says, "Well, she must've done something to get that eleven. After all, Mr. Heavensbee seemed intent on keeping us from knowing how she did. A picture of one of the gamemaker's picture is on the screen now.

"Well, since we've gone over every tribute Joe, do you think it's time for the games now?" Scary reporter number one is jumping up and down he's so excited.

"We sure do Bob! Let's go take a look at them, eh?" Then the screen shows a black background with THE HUNGER GAMES written on it. In red. It looks scarily like blood dripping.

Then it shows a view of the launchroom (stockyard) from a tribute's point of view. It's not actually a tribute's room. It's an extra.

Music is playing in the backgorund and it's kind of annoying. Then it shows from the view of someone rising up on the metal plates. For a moment, it just pans over the arena. It looked normal enough, grass on one side, then a forest on the other. A green open strech between them with a lake.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin!" Claudis Templesmith's voice fills our small house.

And there it is. The cornucopia. Filled pile high with weapons, food, water containers, things to stay alive.

Once it's finished showing the arena it shows each of the tributes, one at a time. Starting with District one and ending with District Twelve.

When it gets to Katniss, she looks indesicive and the clock that counting down says fifteen seconds and I see her position her feet to the cornicupia. No! Why Katniss? Why? Just run to the forest.

We're all holding our breath as we watch it show Peeta shake his head at Katniss. Thankyou Peeta. I hope that she listens to him. She looks confused and in those seconds of confusion, the gong rings.

And she's missed it! She'll never get whatever it was that she wanted so bad. It shows the girl from District Two run and grab a pack of throwing knives, then she starts hitting random people. It shows the little girl named Rue scoop forward and grab something, it looks like a pack, then she runs away, to the woods. It shows the giant from District eleven shoving a bunch of people out of his way as he grabs a handful of things from the cornucopia. And his hands are big.

But where's Katniss? Why isn't she being shown? Did she-? I stop myself mid-thought. No, she's too smart for that.

Then, finally-finally!-the camera goes back to her and it shows her lunge foward to grab a loaf of bread and a plastic thing. She looks angry that that's all she's getting. So she jumps to a backpack that the District Nine boy already had his hand on it, and he glares at her and yanks on it, she does the same but then it shows the District two girl aim and throw.

Her knife ends up right in the center of his back. I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. Then Katniss is running running running into the forest. I've never seen her run that fast. Suddenly, a knife is whizing to her, and Katniss, who's so smart pulls the pack up to protect the back of her head.

And she's gone. It shows the District one girl with a bow and a sheath of arrows try to shoot someone, and fail. Oh, that's what Katniss wanted so bad. Poor her. At least she has a knife.

It shows the giant from District eleven punch someone who tried to knife him in the back. The giant dislocated that person's jaw at least. Maybe worse.

It shows the crippled boy from ten and the giant nod at each other and disappear into the grass. They must've been allies.

Then it shows a girl with red hair like a fox look around and then follow them. She didn't get much. A backpack like Katniss' only smaller.

Once there're only six people left, five careers, and Peeta. Peeta! Of all people. The careers start to surround him but he speaks. "Wait! Before you kill me, why don't you let me into your alliance?"

The girl from two laughs, "You? Why? You can't do anything. It's your district partner who got the eleven. Not you. You got an eight. So shut up and let me kill you. Slowly." That girl gives me the creeps.

"Yeah, and I know how she got it. I also know her 'special secret skill." He put air quotes on special secret skill.

Suddenly, they're stopped by the boom of a canon. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! All the way until eleven. Wow. Usually it's only ten. They must be bloodthirsty this year.

The boy from two appraises him, "Did you kill our ally? From District Four?"

Peeta shrugs, "I had to, or else you wouldn't let me in your little group. So, am I in?"

The pretty district one girl speaks, "Sure, but you only get a knife."

"Glimmer! Who made you the boss?" Snaps the girl from District four. The boy from district two speaks next,

"Everyone, shut up! I make decisions here, got it?" Everyone nods, "Alright Loverboy. We'll let you stay, but Glimmer's right you only get a knife. No swords or anything."

Peeta nods. "My name's Peeta."

The district one boy rolls his eyes, "Don't care. I'm Cato, this is Clove, " He gestures to his district partner.

"Cato, " Snaps Clove, "I can speak for myself."

"I never said you couldn't, " says Cato, matching her tone.

"I'm Glimmer, and this is Marvel, you know, he's marveling at something. Get it?" The girl from district one giggles.

"Why do I get the crazy allies?" Muttered the girl from District Four, then she looks at Peeta, "I'm Layla. Always stay at least four feet away from me, never touch me. Don't talk to me. Don't insult me. Don't talk about me. And, don't steal my weapons." She glares at him to prove her point.

"I like this girl, " Comments Gale.

"Shh, they're going to show Katniss soon." Says Rory.

But first they show the District ten boy and the giant from eleven.

"I'm Derrick, " says the boy from District ten.

"Thresh." Grunts the giant.

"Do you think we should make camp here?" Asks Derrick.

"Sure." Thresh grabs the handful of stuff he got and spreads it out. It switches to the red-haired girl, who's name is Lies. But I can't be sure.

She's hiding behing a tree and is climbing it. She's smaller than Katniss but bigger than Rue.

She waits for the right moment when Derrick falls asleep. She slides down and crawls into a bush. I see that she's holding an egg of some sort. She throws it on the other side of Thresh, and he, hearing noise, goes after it. While he's gone and Derrick's sleeping, she sneaks out and grabs some food.

Just a little. Not enough to let anyone know that she was there. Then she goes back to her tree. She's really smart. But not as smart as Katniss.

Then they show the deaths. The girl from three was stabbed by Cato. The boy from four was choked by Peeta. He's strong. The boy from five was caught in the back by one of Clove's knives. The ones from six were also stabbed by Cato. The ones from seven were speared by Marvel. The boy from eight was stabbed by Glimmer. The boy from nine was killed by Thresh, they wrestled or something. The girl from nine was caught by another one of Clove's knives. The girl from ten was also stabbed by Clove.

And that's it. They show the careers, that's six tributes, then they show the boy from three hiding at the edge of their campsite. Seven. Lies, Derrick, and Thresh are shown as well. Ten. Three left. They show the girl from eight still trekking in the woods. They show Katniss in a sleeping bag in a tree. We all sigh in relief at that. Twelve. One more. Rue. They show her perched in a tree opposite of Katniss. She's trying to make a comfortable bed. It doesn't look very warm though.

I wonder if she'll kill Katniss.


	11. Chapter 11

Today after school was out, Gale walked me, Rory and Vick over to my house.

We were going to watch the next part of the games. I didn't really want to watch it though.

Last night, peeta killed another person and the careers talked about him and Katniss heard everything! It made my stomach lurch. What if they found out and killed her?

Once we get some bread, and settle ourselves in the room where the TV is, Gale's already turned it on and is glued to the screen.

I see the career tributes sleeping, Peeta's on guard. He look's determined, but he keeps checking over his shoulder.

I wish I knew what he was thinking. I watch as he takes all iodine and throws it in the water.

He doesn't make a very good guard. I look at Gale. He looks just as confused as I feel. I wonder if he's still angry about...the interview thing.

I shoot Rory a questioning look. he responds with a shake of his head. I love talking silently to him. It reminds me of when Katniss and I were younger and we could hold conversations without saying anything.

The scene switches to Lies stealing more of Thresh and Derrick's supplies. She's listening to their conversation as well.

"When are we going to break the alliance?" Asks Derrick.

"I dunno." Thresh grunts.

Derrick sighs, "How about we break it when there are ten tributes left?"

"Sure." Thresh turns to his pack and starts reorganizing things.

"Or, maybe we could just break it off when there are five left." I think Derrick wants more than a one-word answer from Thresh.

"No. I'm going to get food." Thresh mutters and walks away, taking his pack with him.

The cameras follow him being followed by Lies. She looks very carefully at what plants he selects, and watches as he stuffs them in his mouth.

By the time he's back at camp, Lies has gathered loads of the same plant and she filled her pack.

She flies back off to his campsite and then hides in her tree again.

Then Katniss is being shown and no one breathes it's so quiet. I let out a noise from the back of my throat. She has cracked lips, sunken cheeks and her eyes look a little crazy. I start crying. I can't help it.

She tries to keep walking, or crawling it looks like. She reminds me of a little old lady the way she uses that stick as a cane.

She's walking and her legs are shaking and she's trying hard to stay calm, but she looks ten years older. She keeps falling, and we all know that if she doesn't find water soon, she'll be dead.

I'm clutching Rory's hand so hard and I think that I might've pulled some of my own hair out.

"Katniss, find water, hurry!" I know she can't hear me, but I so wish she could.

As if she did hear me and my words knocked her over, she fell. I see her eyes, and I think, _no! she can't give up now. She made it past the bloodbath, she can do anything. She's so strong and brave. Why couldn't she get water from Haymitch? _

I watch her fingers swirl the mud around and I see something, I think it's a ghost of a smile on her face. What? What's so good about mud? Wait, mud is just dirt plus water, so...

"Mud! Katniss, look up!, " She looks up, and I smile, "Water is close, you can do it! Please Katniss! I know you can!"

We all watch as she crawls, feeling with her hands, looking for the water until she finds it.

Her hands are shaking as she puts iodine into the water, and sits there for, maybe twenty minutes. I think she's supposed to wait thirty minutes, but who cares?

I hug the TV and am weeping until I see Vick and Gale staring at me as if I'm crazy. I straighten up as if to say, well I'm not crazy.

I nod at them as if I'm greeting them and the camera switches to the careers who are bickering about who lost the iodine. Peeta's sitting quietly at the edge of the lake cleaning all the weapons.

The guilty one is the one everyone's ignoring.

Mother comes home, frantic and as soon as she sees me, she sweeps me into her arms, holding on so tight I can't breathe.

"Mother-can't breathe-put down." I manage to choke out and she quickly puts me down.

"I'm sorry, I just-" She breaks off and cries into my shoulder. Gale tells me that they can't come tomorrow and he takes the boys out while I'm left trying to comfort my ill mother.

"Don't worry Mother. Tomorrow Katniss will have a better day. She has water, food, shelter, and warmth. She's all set." I try to smile reassuringly at her but it comes out as a grimace.

Mother nods and mumbles something about going to bed.

I sigh, knowing that today was slow, and tomorrow, the gamemakers will gurantee blood.

I just hope it's not Katniss'.

**My dear readers-**

**I'm going on a vacation because my holiday lasts until the 26th, so I won't be able to write for about a week. I'll try to write a chapter per week, but I won't be able to update daily like I've been doing. As an apology, I wrote a one-shot and posted it. Just for you guys! It's about Wiress. And it's kind of wierd. **


	12. Chapter 12

I scrunch my eyes up, trying to my line perfect. I wish that Rory would stop moving.

I was cutting his hair. Usually his mother does it, but she was busy because she had alot more merchant's laundry than usual. Apparently this was the week that everyone had to plant their tomatoes and peas so all of their clothes had mud stains. Thankfully, Ms. Hawthorne trusted me enough to do it.

"Rory! If you keep moving your head, then you're going to have uneven hair!" I snap. Then I sigh, I don't want to be cross with him but I'm really worried about Katniss. Today the peacekeepers were given orders to force everyone into the square.

I can't shake the feeling that something important happened last night when everyone was sleeping and we're supposed to watch it and suffer.

At least, that's what I think.

Tomorrow we have the first day of school that will be for the real games, not just the chariot ride, or interviews. The actual games. I swallow and hard and start brushing out Rory's hair, and wet it ever so gently.

He smiles at me and asks, "Am I clear? Should we head to the square? Or are you going with your Mother?" I know he's trying to be nice to me and I think that that's nice and all. But I'm still upset about Katniss.

"Sure, " I say softly. "She's not coming until five and that's in half an hour. Maybe we can stop at the bakery and look at the cakes." I smile sadly, knowing that they'll never be the same when Peeta's not the one frosting them.

I carefully walk into the bathroom, and brush my hair out. I run my fingers over my large collection of volorful ribbons and wonder what color I should wear. I decide green, since it's Katniss' favorite color.

I slip it in my hair and position it so that it pops against my blonde hair. I look down at what I'm wearing. A lisght blue dress to match my eyes. As pretty as it is, it's getting that 'worn-out' look that all my clothes have.

I pick out green shoes to match my ribbon, so that at least looks good.

"Ready to go?" Rory walks in the room and he's already messed up his hair I so neatly brushed. I sighed and nodded. "Great, let's go."

He takes my hand and I blush because it feels like I'm getting electrocuted. By love wires.

Wait, no. Forget that. It sounded weird. Yeah, just...erase that from your memory.

I walk alongside him, talking to him, describing the cakes that Peeta so beautifully decorated and frosted. I wished that someone else was picked for the boy tribute. And I wish I had never been reaped either.

I could never hate the Capitol, no, hating is awful. I first thought that they just needed someone-anyone-to help them see that what they do is wrong. But I just that they just don't realize it.

I think that the person who can help them is my sister. With Peeta's confession of love, the Capitol just might recognize the fact that the district people aren't animals, or just playthings, instead maybe they'll see that they're actual people. And not the rebels that they think we are.

One day, I believe that we can all get along. And I think that it's closer than anyone can ever imagine.

Maybe, if Katniss is smart enough-which will be easy, when is she not smart?-she'll be able to do something that will make everyone in the Capitol see us for who we are.

I think that this is too heavy to discuss with Rory, it'd bring down everyone's moods. Especially mine.

Once we're at the Square, we keep walking until we're at the Bakery. In the display window there are beautiful cakes. But they're nothing compared to what Peeta can do.

I kind of miss him. I hope that if Katniss isn't coming home, maybe he will. Once he let me sample a cake, it was a spongy one, with chocolate frosting. It was delicious and I think that the best part was that even when his Mother came out and saw what he did, she didn't yell, she just smiled and patted me on the head.

I don't think she knows that I'm from the Seam. I blame the blonde hair.

We admire the cakes until we hear the screen crackle with it's familiar static right before it turns on. We walk slowly down to the area where you can see it the best and peopl don't block our exit, they clear a path.

I see Mother, Gale, Vick, and Ms. Hawthorne, who's holding Posy at the front. I see a few more I recognize, Greasy Sae, Darius, and Peeta's father, Mr. Mellark.

I smile brightly at everyone, trying to keep from crying. I take a few shallow breaths and walk up to them, clenching Rory's hand so tightly it's surprising that he didn't pull away, wincing.

We all stare up at the screen, waiting for it to burst to life like it usually does.

Everyone is holding their breath, expecting the worst, there's no doubt that they'll be showing plenty of updates tomorrow at school. No doubt.

The screen switches on, and there's Lies. In the forest, following the careers, who're hunting down tributes. They don't know that one is right behind them. Not the brightest bulbs in the box.

I watch as Peeta follows them, trudging behind as usual. The district three kid was at their campsite, examining a land mine while Clove stayed behind and kept watch with him. You could tell that she hated it from the way that she kept carving things into the cornucopia with her scary knives.

I shudder, hoping that she'll never get the chance to use them on Katniss when all the sudden Katniss is on the screen. She's still being followed by Rue and she's sleeping still when it happens.

I hadn't known why they called us here, but everyone in the woods-Katniss, the careers, little Rue and Lies-were suddenly attacked. By a wall of fire.

**Oh my god! This is my least favorite part. I think it's because I have to write about the pain Prim feels when Katniss gets hurt. I hate hurting people. It's really sad, :-( Oh well. I guess I'll live. At least I'm not some morbid person who loves blood and eating people's hearts out once I kill them *cough* reference to the book *cough* That was a stupid cough...I told you guys I'd try to post! And I tried but internet's super slow here :-/ Wish it wasn't. Keep checking it and as always, review! Please :-)**


	13. Chapter 13

As Katniss wakes up from her sleeping state and desperately starts running away, clumsily holding her stuff, I stare at the screen in horror.

So this is what the gamemakers had planned to make today interesting. Really creative. Oh my goodness! Katniss' jacket is on fire! I bite my lip and try to keep the tears inside my eyes. But it didn't work, and they spill over my eyelashes.

She was running but now she's stomping out the jacket. I feel a lump rise in the back of my throat and I actually start sobbing now. Why? Why is this happening to Katniss? She's the most sure-footed in the forest I know of. Her and Gale maybe.

I wipe my eyes and try to stop wailing like a baby. I think that people are staring at me and I stand up tall, forcing myself to look at the screen. It's on Lies now, she and Rue seem awfully close to each other. They're running so fast, faster than I ever could and the fire wall is following them? The careers are running too, shouting things to each other. The district three boy is stumbling around after them, as they turn around to glare at him from time to time.

I sniffle as it turns back to Katniss, who's now vomiting. Poor her. I so wish that I was there to console her. Heal her. Make sure that she's never hurt again.

I peek at Mother, she looks, well, she looks dead. Her eyes have a hollow look and her mouth is slightly open, not pursed, nor smiling.

I wonder what she's thinking about Katniss becoming an over-the-fire snack for bigger, hungry animals.

The screen switches to an image of Lies who's running to the lake it seems like, no, to the grass. I watch as she flies across the wide open strech where the cornicupia once was shining gold with supplies to keep people alive. It's empty, but with the wall of fire glowing on it, I have to admit, it looks beautiful.

The screen switched again, and I stared in shock as little Rue leapt out of the forest and flung herself into the lake. The camera zoomed in on her and she was rubbing something-sand?- on her burns. I think that that'll block infection, but it won't heal them.

I watch as the cameras go to the careers, who're throwing all the water they have onto the fire. That won't help, and they seem to realize this as they just start running. They stumble, and hurt each other, trying desperately to get out of the forest.

While I'm wishing that they'd show Katniss again, the screen switches to her. Relief courses through my veins. But not for long. The wall of fire descending on her is making her tired, pretty soon she won't have the energy to keep running. I swallow hard, trying to get rid of that stupid lump in my throat.

I look down, telling myself not to look up for fifteen seconds. I stare my my shoes and try to make my face look a little less like a mess. When I look up, I wish I hadn't. Katniss is throwing up again, but this time, fireballs are being thrown at her.

I burst into tears all over again and hope that one doesn't hit her. I watch as she dodges them, carefully and never letting one hit her. Then, it happens. A moment of distraction. That's all it took. She looked at the ground and a fireball hissed and traveled through air.

She screams in agony as it hits her leg. She moved but not quick enough. Her bloodcurdling scream feels like a knife on my skin, and I clamp my hands over my ears, trying to block the rest of the world out. As I start bawling, someone lifts me up off the ground, where I don't even remember going, and starts walking with me away.

No! I can't leave Katniss, she'll be hoping that I'm watching, encouraging her! I can't leave her now! She'll be so angry with me if she knew that I stopped watching! I have to be strong for Katniss and everyone else too. Like Mother. And Gale. And Rory. And Mrs. Hawthorne.

I shove the person away but then immediately regret it. It's the Baker, Mr. Mellark, and he looks really upset that I shoved him away. I smile waterly at him and then look up at the screens. The camera zooms in on Katniss' leg. Oh no.

Her skin is red, and it looks like there's some sort of infection in it, which would be awfully hard to heal. I don't mean to be rude but she might not be able to do it by herself. I really hope she gets an ally. Or some expensive medicine from the Capitol.

Everyone in the square is quiet, some have hands pressed against their mouths, tears streaming down their faces. I guess that's what I look like, except I'm curled up on the ground with a whole crowd of people staring at me worriedly. I guess that's what happens when the tribute has a little sister who's the whole fault that she's there.

I sniffle, and wipe my nose on my sleeve, "I-I'm sorry. I-" I fumble to button my coat and start shakily stare at the screen. At least they're not showing Katniss anymore. Oh wow. Even though the careers have a bunch of supplies and are by no doubt the strongest in the arena, they got really bad burns too. Peeta and Cato are in some sort of arguement about the water.

"It's fine without iodine, just drink it!" Peeta looks flushed in the face and I see he got a really bad burn on his wrist. Nothing serious. Some water and an herbal concoction could heal that. But Cato has a burn running down the side of his face, with some white useless medicine on it.

"Look Loverboy, who's in charge here? You? Nu-uh. I don't think so. I am, so if you think-" Cato starts but is interupted by Glimmer, "Excuse me? I'm sorry but I don't think that some stupid boy should be in charge. I should, right Marvel?" She bats her eyes flirtously at Marvel, who stumbles to say the right thing.

"Haha. Funny catfight. I'm sure the audience is thrilled, now shut up and find the iodine. I'm not drinking poisonous water." Clove shoves Marvel towards the lake and shoves a handful of berries into her mouth.

"Don't tell me what to do Clove!" Cato swings at her, but Clove ducks easily. I thought that the careers stayed together until the final eight. Maybe they're breaking up early.

"Relax. We'll rest tonight here and then tomorrow we go hunting. For tributes. Got it?" Pearl is glaring at everyone but I guess that everyone thinks she has the most even level-headed advice so they all agree and start treating their burns. Marvel and the District Three boy get put on watch duty and the rest go to bed.

I shake my hair out and walk away from the terrible awful mess of the Hunger Games.


	14. Chapter 14

I wake up the next morning feeling guilty. Katniss was in some unknown place, suffering terribly, and here I am, not even brave enough to watch her.

Just as I slide my feet out from my blankets, Mother comes in with a bowl of soup and a cup of milk, "Hi Primmie, feeling better?" She smiles at me and hands me a spoon.

"Yeah, I just-I'm so stupid, I feel so guity." I wipe my eyes to keep the inevitable tears from coming.

Mother sees this and her lower lip trembles. I squint, is Mother crying? She turns her face away from me and I watch her shoulders shake. I lean forward and start crying too. For a long time we just hold each other and cry.

As I reach up and shakily get a hold of the wooden shelf on our wall, I pull myself to my feet and then offer a hand to Mother. She takes it and smiles at me.

She really is beautiful. Blonde hair, identical to me. Blue eyes, a copy of mine. However, when people look at her face, they don't see that beauty, no, they see a broken, worn-down woman, who has no chance of ever fully recovering.

"Prim, " Mother says quietly, "After you left yesterday, Katniss recieved her first sponsor gift. Burn medicine. It was very effective. Must be from the Capitol." I know that Mother's itching to know what was in it so that she could help people that well, but the Capitol would never tell her.

As I turn her words in my head over and over, I wonder if it worked on her leg. It looked more serious than her hands, "Her leg. Did it react to the medicine well? What about her hands?" Mother bites her lip. Uh-oh.

"Well, Primmie, her hands are fine. Just fine. And her leg's getting better. But, um. Why don't you come watch it over with me. You need to see it." I wrinkle my eyebrows as Mother gently leads me into the tiny section of our house that we put the television in.

I look at the screen intently and jump in fright when it turns on. Mother smiles a brittle half-smile and motions for me to sit down. I turn towards the TV once again and watch as the careers, trailed by the District Three boy stumble noisily through the forest.

It switches to Katniss, who's knocked out in a pool of water. I hope that she isn't still there when the Careers catch up with her. Ah, speak of the devil, whatever that is...The careers are making so much noise that Katniss hears them before they enter her sight.

Her eyes flash open and she runs to a tree and shimmies up it with so much speed that if I blinked, she'd already be up it. She looks down, and I can see the fear clear in her eyes. I press a hankerchief to my eye and let out a wail.

The careers come barging through the bushes and walls of green to get to Katniss. They look up at her, anger clear in the big monster from Two's eyes, hatred in his district partner's and jelously-from what, exactly?- in the district one girl's.

I feel my heart sinking, I feel as if someone dropped something heavy on me, and I can't breathe, can't move, can't do anything until it's lifted off. _This is it._ I think, _Katniss is going to die. And there's nothing I can do._

I wasn't even a good enough sister to watch it live, instead I ran away like a coward. The lap of my dress is soaked with my tears. I don't want to watch, but Mother's terrified look forces me to.

I take a deep breath and grit my teeth. Katniss is in the tree, and she's talking to them, "How's everything with you?" She calls cheerfully.

"Well enough, yourself?" Cato replies. I wonder if Katniss knows his name.

"It's been a bit warm for my taste." Katniss says, obviously knowing how much the audience will like this. "The air's better up here. Why don't you come on up?"

Katniss-what are you doing?

"Think I will, " Says the mean beast who has a name that starts with 'C.' I won't say his name-or think it. Because he is the one who is about to kill my sister.

"Here, take this Cato, " Says the girl from District 1, and she pushes her bow and arrows at him, while batting her eyelashes. She must like him. I look at Katniss. Her smile has faded and there's anger in her eyes.

"No, " Cato says, pushing it away, "I'll do better with my sword." He means swords, Cato got two swords. The best ones. WIth curved ends. They look kind of scary. He starts scaling the tree, and Katniss waits until he's a couple feet up, and then she scurries up the tree, like a squirrel.

Cato grits his teeth and wipes his forehead, leaving dirt there. He climbs a little steadily and then as his big stupid muscles hit a particularily thin branch, he falls. I listen for a cannon, but then he jumps up, saying words that Mother covers my ears for.

Glimmer jumps up on the biggest, strongest branches and starts climbing, until they crack under her feet, then she climbs down.

They all huddle in a circle. "What is wrong with you Glimmer? You're the smallest of us! Why did you fall?" Cato is whisper-shouting at her, and he has a hand on his two swords.

Glimmer glares at him, "Sorry! But you fell too, so don't blame it on me!"

Pearl rolled her eyes, "Stop arguing guys. It won't help anything. How are we supposed to kill her?"

Marvel chews his lip thoughtfully, "We could always train a squirrel with a knife and then when it's ready, send it up to kill-"

He's interuppted by Clove, "Are you an idiot? Here's what we do. We wait. It's obvious she's wounded from the fire, and she'll need water eventually. She also needs her sleep, so, we do have a bow and arrows."

"Oh, let her stay up there. It's not like she's going anywhere. We'll deal with her in the morning." Says Peeta, rather harshly.

It goes back to Katniss and she looks upset, and drained. After she got ready for bed, she sat up and appeared to be looking at something. The camera swiveled to see what she was looking at. A pair of eyes. Glowing. They looked like children's eyes. Rue's.

They stare at each other for a little bit and then Rue lifts a hand through branches and points to something above Katniss' head. She looks up and so does everyone else, it's a hive. Of wasps. They might be normal, but I doubt it. I swallow hard.

Katniss won't die at the hand of a career but by tracker jackers. The worst mutt in my mind. They make you have hallucinations, and you die if you get more than five. We learned about them in school.

I let out sound like a dead animal. Katniss nods and Rue leaps away. Katniss studies the nest and seems to think something over. She makes her mind. The camera switches to the careers. They put Glimmer on duty, but she looks really tired, and she's yawning alot. She might fall asleep. I hope so, more safe for Katniss.

The camera switches to more people, but I don't watch. I'm lost in my thoughts. What is Katniss planning? It's obviously dangerous, she has that look in her eye when she looked at the nest, and then she-very quickly-glanced down at the careers. She's not...no! "Please Katniss, don't! Please don't do this!" I'm sobbing so hard and Mother left the room, because she started choking.

I can't help it, but I leap of the couch and run to the screen. I touch Katniss' face and start trying to give her a hug that she will never get.

I don't understand how I got back on the couch, because Mother's still gone and I'm pretty sure that I didn't walk back over here. Either way, I'm there in time to hear the anthem and watch Katniss as she starts sawing the branch off. The one with the hive.

No, please don't Katniss! The anthem finishes before her. She stops and thinks about something before going back to her sleeping bag. She finds a little pot of something, and I know it's the burn medicine Mother told me about.

She dips a finger in it and sighs, "Oh Haymitch. Thank you." She smiles and goes to sleep after she treats her burns.

When Katniss wakes, it's bright out and everything looks cheerful. Katniss reapplies some burn medicine and calls Rue's name. She pops out of a nearby tree, and points at the nest. Katniss holds the knife up and makes a sawing motion.

Rue nods and starts leaping away. It's such an amazing talent, I wonder if that's what she did for the gamemakers. Katniss starts sawing at the branch again, ready to finish the job when a tracker jacker stings her. Uh-oh. One is plenty for a single person. She'll be miserable with that. I feel pain in my chest, a hole in my heart.

She cuts the whole thing and throws it at the careers. She gets stung twice more, on her cheek and one on her neck. As she rips the stingers out, the rest of the insects start getting stung. Glimmer and Pearl get the worse.

As the careers head to the lake, Katniss falls to the ground and runs to the little pool where the careers found her. I hope that she just stays there, but no such luck. She seems to realize something, and starts wobbily making her way back to Glimmer.

The camera zooms in on Glimmer, who was once so beautiful is unrecognizable. I wince at her swollen limbs and the pus oozing out of all her stings. Katniss targets the bow and arrows. Of course. How could she let the one set leave the arena forever. Two cannons fire and Katniss looks crazed. She tells herself, "Do this!"

When she finally releases the arrows from Glimmer, they're clean, but have a little pus, blood and dirt on them.

Katniss turns around just as Peeta comes. "What are you still doing here?" He hisses at her. Katniss looks confused. Peeta fared well, with only maybe, four(?) stings. He'll live-for now. "Get up! Get up! Run! Run!" He screams at her. Does he love her?

Maybe. But now's not the time to think about that. Because Cato came back. He looks angry and pushes Peeta before drawing his sword. There's no chance Peeta will win. Cato doesn't wait, he stabs him high on the left leg, cutting his trousers in the process. Then Cato falls to the ground. Peeta winces and starts dragging himself away from the scene.

It switches to Katniss, who flopped into a shallow ditch, unconcious.

I can only hope that if another cannon sounds; it won't be for Katniss.


	15. Chapter 15

"No no no no no. Like this, you little girl. Stop being such a wrong little nuisance." Mrs. Mellark squawks right into my ear.

I wince, "I'm sorry Mrs. Mellark. I understand it now. And thank you for letting me have this job in the first place." She smiles, or grimaces. I've never really seen her smile before, and then walks away.

Good, I can make bread in peace. I remembered the way Katniss' face lit up when she received that medicine. She took my place in the games, sparring my life, so the least I can do is try to help her save her own. Which is why I went right to the witch and her husband yesterday and asked if I could take Peeta's place at the bakery.

They said yes, but that I would get paid very little. Whatever, I'll take what I can get. So now my job is to mix the ingredients for dough up, knead it, and then make it into a puffy loaf of bread.

So far I've made plain bread, cinnamon and sugar bread, and grainy, whole-wheat bread. There's only one downside to the job-the witch. Normally, I don't like saying, or, um, thinking I guess, mean things about people. After all, father once told me to never judge a book by it's cover.

Those are some of the few childhood memories I remember, that and some song called the Hanging Tree. I can't remember it's signifigance, but I remember the words.

And that Katniss sounded like an angel when she sang it. I start mixing the dough back up and then I dump it out onto a board where I start to knead it. I wish I was at home right now, watching her in the Hunger Games, but she's been passed out for seventeen hours, it's kind of worrying.

Mother made me go, especially after how happy I was yesterday that the baker gave me a job. I made her promise to come get me if anything bad happened, like if someone found her and-

I break off mid-thought and shudder. No need to think like that. I go back to kneading the dough.

When the witch finally lets me go home, I walk out of the bakery, with a few coins in my hand and a sweat-drenched outfit and face. Who knew that so many ovens together would be so hot?

I open the front door to our tiny house and see Mother, a thin shawl wrapped around her hunched shoulders, holding a mug with tea that looks frozen in the darkness of the night. She's surrounding the TV, a worn-out armchair hastily pulled up to it.

"Mother?" I call wearily, "Are you okay? Is Katniss okay?" I bite my lip when I remember what I thought of earlier.

"Prim! You're so late!" I hear someone knock to the ground and slowly open my eyes. Mother has worry and guilt written across her face. She didn't know what time I would have come back and thought sooner.

What with Katniss in the Hunger Games, and Father blown to bits by a mine explosion, she's lost alot of people, so I guess she just assumed the worst. I would've done the same.

I take a step closer to the TV, and pull up another armchair. I settle down next to Mother and we stare at the screen for a couple of minutes without talking. Finally she starts brushing my hair with her fingers.

While she starts to rebraid it, I keep watch on the screen. Suddenly, I see someone moving. Katniss! I see her in that shallow ditch again, I grimace. "Mother, Mother, Mother!" I shriek, "Look, it's Katniss! She's alive!"

Mother's hands freeze in my hair and she turns her head. "Oh my..." We're both staring intently at the screen. Katniss grogily gets up and starts wondering around. She stops when she sees a rabbit.

As perfect as usual, Katniss takes it down with a single arrow. Once she's put it away and retrieved the arrow, she finds a stream, and she gets her supplies in order and bathes. I wrinkle my nose, she probably hasn't had a bath in days. Poor, poor Katniss.

I frown as she lays in the shallow part-what if someone finds her? They could kill her, even Rue, the little girl who is my size.

When Katniss finally finishes her business there, they show the careers, still knocked out from the venom. Peeta is in a creek, covered in moss, and dirt, and I can see blood trails behind him.

I bite my lip and hope that Cato doesn't find those, or worse, him plus Clove.

**I know, I know. I give you permission to kill me. I am soooo sorry! Words can't describe how sorry I am, I am legit legit legit sorry. Please forgive me, I can only hope I haven't lost any reviewers, I know you're out there, so please . . . step forward and leave a review! Also, I read this new book, called Divergent by Veronica Roth, and if you like the Hunger Games, you would love her book. So . . . check that out, yes. **


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